Lucknow: Senior BJP leader LK Advani on Friday said that despite having potential India did not get the place in the world where it was supposed to be even after long years of Independence.

"The country could not achieve the place in the world which it should have," Advani said at a function where a scientific convention centre was dedicated to the public by former President APJ Abdul Kalam.

"Sometimes it felt that we are about to reach, but it didn`t happen," Advani said.
The BJP leader said the country has so much potential it would have achieved that place in the 20th century itself.

"We should take a resolve that we will...Achieve it in 21st century," he said.
"Such a situation should come where people say that 20th century may have belonged to US, Europe of Russia, but 21st century is that of India," he said.

Advani said people of his party leave no stone unturned to fulfil the resolve they take.
"The uniqueness of the party through which I served in the public life is its commitment towards ideology and nationalism and our resolve that we will not compromise with morality," he said.

The BJP leader said he missed one thing that Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who conceptualised the centre, was not present on the occasion.

"There was a feeling of humiliation and there was pain in the heart as to when the country will become independent," he said while narrating an incident.
The BJP leader said he was 20 years old when the country got freedom, but unfortunately with it came partition.

"You will be surprised to know that at that time I didn`t know Hindi. I can speak it due to Hindi cinema. When I became I&B Minister, I had said that one organisation which publicised Hindi most was Hindi cinema," he said.

He said Lal Bahadur Shastri gave the slogan `Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan` and Atal added Jai Vigyan to it.

"Therefore,...Visualising Jai Vigyan we made Kalam the President. The biggest achievement of the government at that time was Pokhran and Kalam had an important role," he said.